D152 -- Lunch with Cypriots

We slept in today, and got up just in time for a delicious lunch prepared by Caitlin. We had been invited to a neighbor's this afternoon for a barbecue, so we killed time until then at the house. Colter and Caitlin taught us a new card game called Egyptian Ratscrew (don't ask me for the origin of the name as I have no idea). It's a bit hard to explain, but it involves hand-to-hand combat with other players, which is a first for me in a card game. We had great fun playing, although my cousins kicked our butts pretty easily.

Our afternoon was spent at the home of Annabella, who is close friends with my cousins' aunt. She was very friendly and invited us to take advantage of her pool, where her two young grandchildren were already having a blast. Colter and I jumped in, but in our efforts to keep the boys entertained, I ended up almost drowning one of them. Whoops. I'm glad to report that no permanent or even temporary damage was done, but you should have seen the look on their grandma's face. Elva opted to take pictures of Annabella's large cactus garden instead of swimming.

After everyone dried off we sat down to a huge feast of primarily Turkish foods, our favorite of which was a yummy green bean dish. Annabella had invited three of her Turkish Cypriot friends to join us, and it was interesting to hear them talk a little bit about their country.

-Tom